Hi Zarker

I had severe displacia of the vocal chords around 5 years ago and was told that I needed laser treatment immediately as it "was very close to cancer". I had laser treatment a few times and had to have biopsies done around every 2 - 3 months but in my case it had gone too deep so they could only laser the surface and it kept coming back. If you are a smoker you should give it up immediately as my consultant told me to avoid smoke at all costs.

I went on to have larygneal cancer but I was stage T2-3 when I was eventually diagnosed. I was successfully treated with radiotherapy 28 months ago and touch wood everything is fine and my voice is better than it's been for years.

On a positive note they are closely monitoring you and as you are at a very early stage hopefully they will be able to get rid of it with laser treatment alone.

I wish you well and hope that the next laser treatment will be the end of it.

Marion x

Hi Marion ,

Thanks very much for your reply it was most helpful. I hope you don't mind me asking but how long was it from when they found displacia to you being diagnosed with laryngeal cancer? As this is what I think may be happening to me. They said inicially It could be treated with laser alone and after my last laser treatment yesterday that the return was on the surface only and did not warrant rdiotherapy at the moment and he had done deeper biopsys which he says hes sure arn't cancerous. This has as you know been a very difficult time for me as i'm so scared of loosing my voice or having to have a laryngectomy which I've been told is unlikely. i'm reassured to know that after your treatment your voice is now good. Thank you again and I hope you continue to do well. Andy

p,s gave up smoking 5 years ago and after this will never go back to it!

Hi Marion.

Glad to see you are not as bad as I thought, its great newes to see you are all clear you know how I am if you know what a stoma are. when you have cancer it is hard to talk about it and I found that people seem to shy away from you. I have been to the hospital and spoken to people like me about treatment and the future and it helps,

With this site you can talk to people and exchange messages about your problems,

Well keep well for the future.

Joeninty

Hi Michael

Thanks for your reply. It's great that you are talking to people in a similar situation as it always helps to talk to someone who knows exactly what you are going through.

I'll let you know how I get on with my next appointment on 28 July.

Love Marion x

Hi Marion. Chris,

Just thought i'd drop you a line to say I'm going in tomorrow for my micro endoscopy so keeping my fingers crossed they won't find the cancers come back and they don't have to do too much lasering. I guess they will do some biopsy's. Will let you know how I get on. Hope you are both well and hope all is going well with your RT Chris.

Best wishes

Andy

Hi Andy/Chris

Good luck tomorrow, let me know how you get on. I'm off to New York with my son (who had testicular cancer last year) on Wednesday morning but I'll log on when I get back on the 26th.

Fingers crossed you wil be fine!

Chris, hope you are doing OK and let us know how you're getting on.

Love Marion x

Thanks Marion,

Have a great time in the big apple!

Hi Found out my husband had Vocal cord cancer ( T1) last week and have since spent a lot of time on this site and have read all this discussion i would like to say a huge thank you to Mariontaylor, Joeninty, Zarker and Chris77.We needed to know what was likely to happen and through reading this honest account of your lives feel we have a better ubnderstanding of what may lie ahead. I dont think you realise just how helpfull you are thank you. i know we are just starting down a long long road but we are lucky that my husbands cancer is so small they are lasering it soon and hope for a full recovery. thank you for all your honest stories that have been so informative. my heart goes out to every one on this site whether you are a sufferer or just someone you know is suffering.

god bless

Hi Andy

I'm back although feeling very jet lagged back at work after arriving late last night! Had a fantastic time in the Big Apple and now have the statue of Liberty as my wallpaper on my phone (sad)!

How are you? Please let me know how you got on last week.

Love Marion x

HI Marion,

Glad you had a good time in NY, I love it there. Had my laser procedure a week ago, so still feeling a little tender and voice is v hoarse ( whats new!) and they did some more laser and biopsy's. I have a strong feeling its not good news. Since I had a the laser I have been sent for another neck and chest CT scan today, the resluts of which I won't get till tomorrow and I had an ultra sound on my neck which fortunately seems to indicate there are no lumps and my lymph nodes aren't swollen.

I rang the macmillan nurse who works with my consultant yesterday and she seemed to indicate between the lines that they may have found something else and that I may need to have RT. This is all hearsay at the moment as my follow up appt isn't till tomorrow but I think this is what they will say as all the tests seems to have been done super quick.

Its really disappointing as I was so hoping there wouldn't have been a reacurrance, still I guess I have to wait till tomorrow to be told for sure.

Regards

Andy

Hi Luckyus

You've probably seen that I've been away for a few days so have only just seen your kind message, it was so nice of you to write. It's great to hear that our postings have helped in some way as I tend to forget that others are reading them as well!

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband but I'm sure he will be fine as it's at a very early stage. If you're ever worried about anything please get in touch as I check this site regularly.

Take care and let us know how your husband is getting on.

Love Marion

Hi Andy

Poor you, I know only too well what you are going through. Before I got my results I was send an appointment for a MRI head and neck scan and then a CT scan for my thorax so I knew before my appointment that it wouldn't be good news but it could all be routine and they might just be checking.

Roll on tomorrow, at least you will know what you may have to deal with and if you do need RT at least you will be able to get rid of it once and for all. Try not to get too down - easier said than done I know.

I'll be posting tomorrow to see how you get on - good luck!

Love Marion x

Hi Andy

Poor you, I know only too well what you are going through. Before I got my results I was send an appointment for a MRI head and neck scan and then a CT scan for my thorax so I knew before my appointment that it wouldn't be good news but it could all be routine and they might just be checking.

Roll on tomorrow, at least you will know what you may have to deal with and if you do need RT at least you will be able to get rid of it once and for all. Try not to get too down - easier said than done I know.

I'll be posting tomorrow to see how you get on - good luck!

Love Marion x

Thanks Marion, will let you know how I get on.

Andy

Hi Andy

I'm thinking of you. Let me know how you got on today when you get a chance!

Love Marion x

Thanks Marion that means a lot, i'm absolutely dreading it, as i fear its bad news, but guess i just have to take what comes and make the best of it, feels like i'm walking to the scaffold! keeping fingers and toes crossed

Andy x

HI Andy

I'll be thinking of you and keeping everything crossed making typing very difficult!

I'll check later to see how you are. I have to log off now as I'm at work and my lunch break is over.

Try not to worry

Marion x

Th Marion my appt is at 3pm will let you know later. x

Hi Zacker.

Hope you get the best results that you want. I being at the end of all this treatment had numerous operations and are free of throat cancer for 2 years, I went through all the same things that you and all people like us are feeling, treatment is a lot better than it used to be, I read the post from luckyus but dont know what problem her husband has.

As you know my cancer was T4 but I had a good surgeon as it is he has just retired, I must have been to much for him (joke).

I will be thinking about you and all the people that come on here. let me know what they say.

Regards

Joeninty.

Hope all went as good as it can do for you today and your fears were wrong thinking of you

Hi Joeninty

My husband has T1 of the left vocal cord we found out early this month he is going in for laser treatment. soon.we are still in the shock stage at the moment. again thank you for all you have wrote. i hope we dont walk down the full road that you have been down but i realise we are on the same path with our fingers crossed. not sure there is anything else to say yet thanks

Lucky Us (yer Right)

Hi Luckyus.

You dont say how old your husband is, I am 66 now I started when I was 64 with a sore throat, mine started on the left then I was unlucky it started on the right. I had radio for 6 weeks but it didnt seem to help, I wont go into anymore. I have met a few people in the hospital that have had different stages of this type of cancer and have had treatment and everything has turned out allright. have you talked about this with your husband, or is he the type like me that wouldnt talk about it.

There is a lot of people on this site that will help with blogs on here and offer support for you both if need be. the laser is not that bad I had it, nothing to worry about . if you want to let me know if you would like anymore info I will look out for your reply.

Dont worry to much it will get better.

Michael.

Hi Marion,

Well its mixed news. They have found a small lesion under the lasered tissue which my consultant say's is behaving very much like cancer although at a very early stage, it looks like something that could in the future become aggressive and he could laser it but there is no guarantee it won't come back and continued lasering will make my voice worse. So he wants to give me a 6 week course of RT which he says will clear it all up once and for all. Its not the news I wanted but I'm relieved that its completely localised and all the other scans, neck, chest etc are clear.

He also said that I would only need the RT in a very small area of the larynx so the side effects will not be as bad as I thought, eg, lack of saliva, swallowing etc, although I'm sure its not going to be easy but if this is what it takes to beat this once and for all then i'm prepared to go through with it. Its strange I almost feel relieved like chris did when he was told as this has gone on so long that I am so glad there is a good chance I can get rid of it.

Thanks so much for your support and thoughts today, I know we havent met but you feel like a real friend and it buoyed me up to know you were thinking about me, so thanks for that. There's lots of preparation as you know so I think it will be 3 weeks ago before I start so will keep you up to date on how I get on. Thanks again.

Andy xx